


Boys and their Toys

by Aithilin



Series: First Meetings [7]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:24:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Pelna had all the tech in the world, and one last mission before he could take his vacation.





	

Pelna found out by accident— purely through dumb luck and a routine check of the frequencies in use. As he cycled through the channels, logged who was correctly registered, who was correctly tracked and tagged, an order came through on the Crownsguard lines. His eyes were on the field agents on the radar, the new recruits being blooded out on the Wall while the old dogs had some semblance of a break. He watched the channels and the transcripts— the little text alerts that filtered in through his equipment as he wound down a final shift before his leave.

_The Star hasn’t checked in._

This was the first message in the never-ending chain that caught Pelna’s attention. Not because it had filtered through the Crownsguard calls, but that it was signed off by Clarus Amicitia. And anything coming from that call sign was coming from the King himself. 

A handful of Crownsguard patrols signed off their acknowledgement. The reports confirming that there was no sighting of the Prince along the usual Citadel routes or the wider net cast by the Guard’s street-level patrols. 

Pelna bit his lip as he looked over the tracking boards— over every little blip and sign and instance of radar ping that he had at his fingertips. Each and every tracked person lit up before him, spread out in organised little codes and dots and call signs. If the prince was missing… 

He typed in his own reply before thinking it through. 

_Glaive radar active. Search for trace?_

It was a moment before he got the affirmative and he activated the trackers on the prince’s phone. If anything happened, it might not be enough to pinpoint the kid, but it could at least give them a last known location from where the signal was bouncing, where the kid last checked a text or connected to his network. Once he had that locked in, he could run the actual trackers, get the kid in sight. 

It was a little troubling that the last location to appear was a park outside of the Galahdian refugee district. 

_Friendly territory. The Star is in the city. Retrieval required?_

It was a long moment before Amicitia responded: _Keep it quiet. Just get a sight on the Star. Retrieval unnecessary._

Pelna could do that. Quiet was easy. It meant just check that the prince hadn’t got himself into trouble. And it was in his district, his home. There was a frequency used for just his friends— one that he had set up ages ago for them to keep in touch. “Hey, anyone online?”

It was Crowe who answered, “Are you on your way?”

“Kind of. Want to meet me at Canyon Park quick? I need to check on something.”

“You owe me a drink. Get your ass down here.” Crowe’s line stayed open, and Pelna took his equipment with him. 

It was an easy trip, an easy last mission before he had some sort of a break. It wasn’t the first time the prince had missed a check in— had slipped past his Crownsguard handlers and wandered off into the depths of the city. It wasn’t the first time these sorts of messages had come through his line, or under his watch. Anyone could handle a wayward prince.

Crowe met him at the park entrance, leaning against her cooling bike, helmet in hand. “Could you be any slower? You need a car.”

“Nice to see you too,” Pelna held up his phone, already linked to the Glaive’s radar system. “I just need to see if Prince Noctis is around here. He missed a check in and ran off again.”

“Seriously? You called me out here to babysit?”

“Just a visual check.”

Pelna had seen Crowe nervous before. Had seen her pace and fret and try to cover it up. The look she had now, the way she took out her phone, turned it in her hands. “Why don’t you just call Nyx? You know he can find that kid in half a second.”

“It’s just a check. I don’t want to bother Nyx with it.”

The park, this time of day was quieter than normal. It wasn’t a popular one— spotted as it was with the thick, unruly growths native to Galahd. Too unruly for the careful manicuring touches of the Crown City landscapers. For those looking to fit in with the Lucians, it was not the most popular stop— for those looking for privacy, there was a patrol that circled the park’s edges every three hours. There was already talk about the landscapers hired by the crown tearing it up and starting fresh.

Pelna moved over the overgrown path with his phone in hand, coordinates static as he moved forward. The trees and flowers more familiar than the streets just outside of the sanctuary. 

He barely registered that Crowe was furiously tapping at her phone. Not until she started swearing; “It’ll just be a minute, Crowe, take it easy.”

“Right, right.” He ignored her muttering, frowning as he realised that he was almost on top of the prince’s signal. 

“Oh,” he saw Nyx first, a hand tangled in Noctis’ hair. It took a moment to realise that Nyx was kissing the prince; the act not registering until he saw his friend pull away with a grin. 

There was a take-out box next to them, Nyx’s jacket open beneath the prince on the grass of the park, Nyx grinning as he was leaning over Noct. They had been there long enough to finish whatever food they had picked up, long enough for Noct to be smiling and stretched out, balanced on his elbows as Nyx’s hands were determined to sneak to pale skin. He could see Nyx’s smirk, the prince’s smile, the lack of distance between them. 

Sometimes, Pelna wished he was less observant.

He turned on his heel, nearly knocking Crowe over. “Okay, the prince is fine, let’s go.”

As he walked— quick, measured, military steps- back to the park entrance, he sent off the response to the Crownsguard lines. 

_The Star is secure. Never safer. Retrieval unnecessary._


End file.
